It’s not that I think a national background check on gun purchases is a bad idea. Nor is that I think it’s really necessary to own a semi-automatic assault rifle or that the right to purchase one is intrinsic to the Second Amendment. I don’t think either of these things and based on that, I find the actual policy proposals of President Obama regarding guns to be fairly benign. What is troubling, if unsurprising, is what’s omitted and its solutions that might actually matter and it’s an honest conversation about all facets of gun violence in this country.